For
fans of Heat and Kitchen
Confidential comes an intense
and unflinching twenty-four-hour cycle in the life of a sous chef, from an
up-and-coming literary talent and fifteen-year veteran of New York restaurant
kitchens.

Sous Chef offers an
adrenaline-fueled exploration into the world of professional cooking and the
lives of people who have committed themselves to feeding others. It is both a
love letter and a cautionary tale, meant to shed light in equal measure on the
allures and adversities intrinsic to the job. Told uniquely in second person,
the experience is immersive, allowing the curious kitchen enthusiast or basic
home cook to imagine what it might be like to inhabit this world in real time,
providing the fledgling cook with an honest picture of what lies ahead, giving
voice to the hard work and dedication around which the Master Chef has built a
career, and furnishing all manner of readers with a more mindful perspective
from which to think on the craft.

Download and start listening now!

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Quotes & Awards

This is excellent writing—excellent!—and it is thrilling to see a debut author who has language and story and craft so well in hand. Though I would never ask my staff to read my own book, I would happily require them to read Michael Gibney’s.Gabrielle Hamilton, author of Blood, Bones & Butter

Gibney has the soul of a poet and the stamina of a stevedore. . . . Tender and profane, his book will leave you with a permanent appreciation for all those people who ‘desire to feed, to nourish, to dish out the tasty bits of life.’The New York Times Book Review

A terrific nuts-and-bolts account of the real business of cooking as told from the trenches. No nonsense. This is what it takes.Anthony Bourdain

A wild ride, not unlike a roller coaster, and the reader experiences all the drama, tension, exhilaration, exhaustion and relief that accompany cooking in an upscale Manhattan restaurant.USA Today

A vibrantly written guide to terminology and process, with plenty of real-time detail and a dash of kitchen gossip.Entertainment Weekly

Fascinating and fun . . . Gibney is both a gifted observer and supremely knowledgeable about his craft and the inner workings of a professional kitchen.The Boston Globe

Gibney has a fine ear for language and delivers an extraordinary amount of information about ingredients and techniques.The Wall Street Journal

Experience one exhilarating day in the shoes of a New York chef in this enthralling book.Parade

Michael Gibney’s you-are-there Sous Chef is one of the most informative, funny, and transparent books about the restaurant biz ever written.Bret Easton Ellis

“A terrific nuts-and-bolts account of the real business of cooking as told from the trenches. No nonsense. This is what it takes.”

Anthony Bourdain

Sous Chef is a marvelous, superbly written, intelligent, and accomplished book. I know no other book that so vividly renders the experience and complexity of life in a big restaurant kitchen. The sheer amount of knowledge demonstrated here of the particulars of cooking is immense, and the dynamic, seesaw relationship between chef and sous chef is especially well achieved. I was gripped by the author’s culinary passion and literary sophistication. Bravo!Phillip Lopate

A good cook chooses ingredients carefully, just as a writer must select the right words. Michael Gibney is a word cook of the highest order, and this book will leave you licking your fingers.Gary Shteyngart

Gibney is as skilled with words as he is with his 11-inch Sujihiki knife.Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This is excellent writing—excellent!—and it is thrilling to see a debut author who has language and story and craft so well in hand. Though I would never ask my staff to read my own book, I would happily require them to read Michael Gibney’s.”

Gabrielle Hamilton, New York Times bestselling author of Blood, Bones & Butter

“Gibney has a fine ear for language and delivers an extraordinary amount of information about ingredients and techniques.”

Wall Street Journal

“Forgoing the usual route of outrageous stories, name dropping, or
straight ahead cookbooks, Gibney writes about what it’s actually like to
work in the kitchen of a fine dining restaurant…An experienced chef with an MFA in nonfiction, Gibney is as skilled with words as he is with his eleven-inch Sujihiki knife.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Gibney, who reads his own introduction, takes listeners into the kitchen of an upscale city restaurant, showing the unglamorous world of a professional sous chef…Narrator Fred Berman’s enthusiastic performance not only emphasizes the nonstop action and drama of working the line but holds listeners’ attention as the cooks prepare for the evening service…Berman sustains his energy and expressiveness even throughout the descriptive passages that focus on restaurant minutiae, and his pronunciations of the technical and foreign terms are generally spot-on.”

AudioFile

“An experienced sous chef and first-time author skillfully deconstructs a twenty-four-hour work cycle of a sous chef in a New York kitchen…Gibney ably relays mountains of information in this remarkable trek through his storehouse of knowledge. Sumptuously entertaining fare.”

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Gibney’s first book takes listeners through twenty-four hours in the life of a
sous chef and other members of a restaurant’s supporting cast, all of
whom are a little rougher around the edges than the sophisticated food
they create…Reader Fred Berman does an admirable job of placing the listener at the
center of the chaotic dance that is the back of the house. Gibney’s
detailed descriptions help illustrate the impressive amount of skill
necessary to transform ingredients into a great dish and successfully
demonstrates what separates fine dining from regular restaurant fare.”

Library Journal (audio review)

“A good cook chooses ingredients carefully, just as a writer must select the right words. Michael Gibney is a word cook of the highest order, and this book will leave you licking your fingers.”

About the Author

Michael Gibney began working in restaurants at the age of sixteen and assumed his first sous chef position at twenty-two. He ascended to executive sous chef at Tavern on the Green, where he managed an eighty-person staff. He has worked in the kitchens of Morgans Hotel Group, 10 Downing in Manhattan, and Governor in Brooklyn’s DUMBO, among many others. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to work alongside cooks and chefs from many of the nation’s best restaurants, including Alinea, Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Bouley, Ducasse, Corton, wd~50, and Momofuku. In addition to his experience in the food service industry, Gibney also holds a BFA in painting from Pratt Institute and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About the Narrator

Fred Berman has won eight AudioFileEarphones Awards for his audiobook narration and is the recipient of the 2013 Audie Award for narration in Spy the Lie. He is a theater, film, and television actor, whose credits include Broadway’s The Lion King, Law & Order, and Directing Eddie, among others. He was featured in Entertainment Weekly for his work on the Walking Dead audiobook series.

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